Vaccine News

Since 2016, the Zika virus (ZIKV) has been reported in India's 16 different states/union territories. According to local media, the ongoing Zika outbreak in the state of Maharashtra, India, has significantly expanded this year.

As of November 29, 2024, Maharashtra's Zika outbreak has reached 140 cases, five related fatalities, and 63 pregnant women. The majority of these cases are located in Pune.

While most Zika cases result from a bite from an infected mosquito, the virus is transmitted through sexual contact. Scientists have reported that ZIKV RNA is detectable in the semen of infected men for months.

Zika virus can be passed from a pregnant person to their fetus and can cause microcephaly, a medical condition involving a smaller-than-normal head.

With a population exceeding 7 million and over 1 million international visitors, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have maintained a Level 2—Practice Enhanced Precautions, Travel Health Advisory for this state in India since August 22, 2024.

The CDC recommends that pregnant women avoid travel to Maharashtra.

If travel is unavoidable, follow the Zika prevention recommendations strictly. And if you are planning pregnancy, you should delay pregnancy following travel based on the timeframes to prevent sexual transmission.

Travelers to Maharashtra should seek medical care immediately if they develop fever, rash, headache, joint or muscle pain, or red eyes during or after travel.

As of December 2024, the CDC reported 28 non-congenital Zika cases in the U.S. In Puerto Rico, the Department of Health says 16 Zika cases have been confirmed in 2024.

As of December 2, 2024, no approved Zika vaccine is available. However, Valneva SE's VLA1601 is a second-generation purified, inactivated, whole Zika vaccine candidate actively conducting clinical trials.

The Lancet Infectious Disease recently published a Correspondence focused on Nipah virus research priorities.

Nipah was first discovered in 1999 following an outbreak in pigs and people in Malaysia and Singapore. Since then, outbreaks have occurred nearly every year in many parts of Asia, often in Bangladesh (2023) and India (2024).

According to the U.S. CDC, around 40%–70% of people infected with Nipah die.

On November 18, 2024, these authors wrote, 'WHO's roadmap for Nipah virus research priorities (2024–29) outlines ambitious milestones for advancing diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines.

Although the roadmap signifies progress against the Nipah virus, it also exposes inequities in global health governance, raising concerns about who sets research agendas and for whose benefit.

We sincerely commend the distinguished experts involved in the roadmap development process for their exceptional leadership, expertise in henipaviruses, including Nipah and Hendra viruses, and representation of affected regions.

However, the low representation from the most affected countries highlights gaps in the priority-setting process. Of the 26 authors, only 3 (11%) were from the two countries—Bangladesh and India—that reported all Nipah virus cases in the last two decades, and other affected countries, including Malaysia and the Philippines, were not represented.

This exclusion contrasts with the roadmap's objective of addressing needs in regions most vulnerable to outbreaks.

To make meaningful progress, the global health community must adopt an inclusive approach to research prioritization and co-developing roadmaps with stakeholders from affected regions, including clinicians, public health practitioners, and community leaders. This approach will ensure that priorities are scientifically robust, implementable, and culturally relevant.

The unedited correspondence is found at this link.

In August 2024, Phylex Biosciences announced its new mRNA nanoparticle vaccine against the Nipah virus. The vaccine achieved positive results in an immunogenicity study conducted in collaboration with scientists from the U.S. CDC.

As of December 2, 2024, the CDC has not approved a vaccine against the Nipah virus.

As 2024 comes to a close, health leaders say it has been challenging for polio eradication, as there has been an increase in the transmission of wild poliovirus in the last two endemic countries.

For example, Pakistan reported six WPV1 cases last week, bringing the total number of cases for 2024 to 55.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on October 17, 2024, that from January 2023 to June 2024, 74 cVDPV outbreaks were detected in 39 countries, with 672 confirmed acute flaccid paralysis cases.

Additionally, new and high-profile outbreaks have emerged. Despite these difficulties, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) wrote in November 2024 that the global commitment to eradicating polio remains stronger than ever.

To refocus polio vaccination efforts, the World Health Organization recently confirmed that the spread of the poliovirus remained a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

For example, poliovirus has been detected in wastewater systems in Germany, Poland, and Spain since September 2024.

To alert international travelers of their polio risk, the CDC reissued a Global Polio Alert - Level 2 Travel Health Notice in August 2024 regarding polio outbreaks and poliovirus detections in 37 countries.

The CDC recommends that travelers speak with a vaccine expert before visiting these counties about completing their initial polio vaccinations or obtaining a booster for enhanced protection.

In the United States, polio vaccines are generally available in 2024 at health clinics and pharmacies.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) today announced that a new Clade Ib mpox has been detected in central England.  

The case was detected in Leeds, and the individual is now under specialist care at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The UKHSA and NHS will not disclose any further details about the individual. 

As of November 29, 2024, this is the fifth case of Clade Ib mpox confirmed in England in recent weeks. This case is related to travel to Africa and has no links to the previous instances identified, which have now fully recovered.

In a media release, Professor Susan Hopkins, Chief Medical Adviser at UKHSA, commented, "The risk to the UK population remains low following this fifth case, and we are working rapidly to trace close contacts and reduce the risk of any potential spread."

"Per established protocols, investigations are underway to learn how the individual acquired the infection and to assess whether there are any further associated cases."

According to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 59,000 Clade 1b cases have been detected in 20 countries this year.

On November 22, 2024, the WHO Director-General determined that the upsurge of mpox continues to constitute a public health emergency of international concern.

This outbreak is unrelated to the Clade II global outbreak that began in May 2022.

Currently, Bavarian Nordic's JYNNEOS® (MVA-BN®, IMVAMUNE®, IMVANEX®) two-dose mpox / smallpox vaccine is available in numerous countries. The U.S. CDC recommends vaccination for people who anticipate sexual activities during travel to countries with ongoing person-to-person transmission of mpox.

The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal published a Brief Report today. It reported that Nirsevimab (Beyfortus™), a single-dose, monoclonal antibody against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), showed promising efficacy in reducing hospitalizations for lower respiratory tract infections caused by RSV in healthy preterm and full-term infants.

This analysis was revealed on November 26, 2024, regarding nirsevimab immunization status: among infants hospitalized for bronchiolitis, the odds of hospitalization for RSV bronchiolitis were 4.7 times higher for nonimmunized children.

Immunized infants were less likely to require oxygen supplementation (20.2% vs. 30.6%, P = 0.02) and had a 1-day shorter hospital stay.

And RSV bronchiolitis was less frequent and less severe in infants immunized with nirsevimab.

In conclusion, this large prospective multicentre study found a significant protective effect of nirsevimab on hospitalization for RSV-positive bronchiolitis. Significant healthcare cost savings were produced because RSV-positive bronchiolitis was less frequent and less severe in immunized infants, with a significantly reduced hospitalization length than in nonimmunized infants.

Beyfortus was approved by the European Union in November 2022 and by the U.S. FDA on July 17, 2023. As of November 2024, there is an ample supply of Beyfortus in the U.S.

The U.S. Department of State announced on November 21, 2024, that the Department ended the voluntary departure of non-emergency U.S. direct hire employees and their eligible family members due to restoring power to Havana and other clean-up and restoration efforts from Hurricane Rafael.

However, travel by U.S. Embassy employees outside Havana still requires a special notification process, which may affect the Embassy’s ability to provide emergency assistance to U.S. citizens when visiting Cuba.

The Embassy suggests that visitors enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program to receive alerts and make locating you in an emergency easier. About 200,000 people from around the world visit Cuba monthly. 

Seperately the U.S. CDC says to be aware of current health issues in Cuba and vaccination options.

Currently, there is an outbreak of Oropouche in Cuba, with about 90 cases reported in Florida by visitors from Cuba.

Chikungunya, dengue, and zika viruses are year-round risks in many parts of the Americas, including Cuba.

The Republic of Mali recently introduced the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine into its routine immunization program.

According to Aliou Diallo's report on November 21, 2024, Dr. Ibrahima Diarra, Director of Mali's National Immunisation Centre, highlighted the significance of this development: "A single dose is enough to protect a ten-year-old girl for over ten years against the viruses responsible for 70% of cervical cancers."

Mali has a population of about 22 million and aims to vaccinate more than 320,000 young women annually, potentially reducing cervical cancer cases by nearly 90%.

These vaccinations could, in turn, prevent over 3,600 deaths annually among Malian women.

Thanks to Gavi and co-funding by the government, the HPV vaccine is free for young Malian women. The Sahel stretches across the southernmost latitudes of North Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea.

In 2023, 37 countries were implementing the single-dose HPV schedule.